A review by sarahfrances52
Ever After Always by Chloe Liese

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.25

I love the premise of this book—a husband and wife face challenges in their marriage and come out of it stronger. I feel like that’s a spin on the traditional romance storyline that ends with marriage and I found it refreshing. However, I really really really had a problem with how the author framed the fundamental issue of miscommunication in Aiden and Freya’s marriage. Clearly, the author was attempting to generate a discussion about gender roles and emotional intimacy. The book starts with Freya being frustrated with Aiden’s lack of physical and emotional attention and she feels like their marriage is practically over. Throughout the book Freya, her brothers, their marriage counselor, and nearly everyone else seem to be placing the blame for this collapsing relationship solely at Aiden’s feet. Because of the dual POV, we as the readers know that Aiden is struggled with crippling anxiety and panic attacks that he’s trying to “protect” his wife from. He certainly shouldn’t be doing that and certainly should shoulder some of the blame for their crumbling relationship, but the lack of empathy from Freya for 60-70% of the book was just infuriating to me. Freya of course had every right to be angry with him, she had every right to be cautious about letting him in again, BUT it took her 70% of the book to admit that she also wasn’t communicating with Aiden about her needs and instead was quietly stewing until she finally snapped and they found themselves in a rough patch. Throughout the book, Aiden struggles with emotional intimacy and often notes that society’s expectations of masculinity are not helping him grow. I don’t mind this commentary on masculinity, but what I found frustrating is that Freya’s struggle with emotional intimacy falls flat. She has one or two brief moments where she realizes that she was not meeting Aiden’s emotional needs, but we never see her grapple with that like Aiden did. All’s that to say, I found this story to be incredibly uneven. However, Liese has me hooked on the Bergman family and I will likely read the other five books in this series. I’m not sure what it is about this series that keeps me coming back for more, but I do! 
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